No honor, no pride, no sense of right and wrong. How did we get to this place? And furthermore what kind of person would unconscionably slither away attempting to claim honors belonging to people who gave their blood, sweat and tears, not for a medal, but for this country?
That”s what I was thinking as I watched the “Stolen Valor” case unfold.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to dismiss the conviction of a former California politician who claimed he was a decorated military veteran.
Xavier Alvarez said he received the Medal of Honor, among other prestigious military recognitions.
He did not. He lied.
His lies were explained away and excused, and it was deemed that he was simply practicing “constitutionally protected speech.”
I am all for free speech. I can accept that sometimes people tell colorful tales to impress, or for whatever other reasons. But in my book, liars suck. And Alvarez is a liar.
The Medal of Honor is a rare and meaningful symbol of service in our country. At least it was once.
There are only 81 of 3,457 total recipients of the Medal of Honor still living, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
When I was younger I worked at a neighborhood bar. One of my coworkers was a Vietnam veteran. Victor was gruff, a bit scraggly and weathered, but kind. He had a type of pain and sadness in his eyes that belongs to people who have seen too much, too soon. Victor was in the infantry, so he was a front lines guy.
He drank way too much and found it difficult, if not impossible, to successfully forge any meaningful bond and relate with his grown children.
His wife left him about two years after he returned from the war. He had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He said he would wake up in the middle of the night swinging his fists, searching for weapons, crawling on the floor and sometimes even in his yard. He said he was often saturated in sweat, crying or yelling. Victor understood when his young wife packed up the three children and left.
He married a few more times, didn”t bring any more children into the mix though. He eventually settled into his life alone, working in a bar for his old buddy from the Marines.
As a civilian, he was pretty easygoing, sometimes even funny.
It was a sunny Tuesday afternoon when a slender man in his 20s walked through the door.
“Got a drink for a soldier?” the man in dress greens asked Victor.
“No, get out,” Victor said as he clenched his fists on the bar and a fiery red spread rapidly from his neck to the top of his forehead as though he was a cartoon character with steam blowing out of his ears.
“You”re a fake, a fraud and you need to get out of here while I”m still in a good mood,” Victor said as he stared the man down.
I was puzzled. I didn”t understand why Victor was so mad at this stranger. But anyone who has served in the United States armed forces probably already knows what the problem was.
The man persisted, telling Victor he was broke and just wanted a cold beer on a hot day. He told Victor it was the least he could do for someone who was serving his country and protecting his freedoms.
“What”s your MOS?” Victor asked. The man stared blankly and said, “huh?”
That was it. Victor walked over and lifted the man up and turned him sideways like a wooden board.
“Your patch says Airborne? I”ll show you Airborne,” Victor said with some expletives peppering the dialogue. Then he threw the man out the front door.
That was day I learned that soldiers do not wear dress blues or greens to frequent a bar, because it”s disrespectful.
I also learned that the patron/beggar was wearing mismatched pins and patches that indicated he put this costume together for the sole purpose of scamming people.
Victor never got a Medal of Honor. He had a Purple Heart. He earned it. I knew that each time I watched him limp across the room.
People like Victor are the reason why I so disagree with the Supreme Court decision.
Is it not enough that an American boy, barely an adult, gave his sanity and hope of living the American dream in the name of protecting this country? Do we also have to diminish the value of the symbols of the sacrifice?
After the Supreme Court ruling anyone is free under the First Amendment to make the same claim as Alvarez did, whether it”s true or not.
We have denigrated the symbols that display selfless heroism on the part of those who intend to protect our freedoms as citizens of the United States. I think that is a shameful statement about this country.
We have officially devalued our citizens and the meaning of our own medals.
“So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell? Blue skies from pain? Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?” ? Pink Floyd
Mandy Feder is the Managing Editor at Lake County Publishing. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 ext. 32. Follow on Twitter @mandyfeder1.
